When Ian Webster and Di Lanskey drove home from the 2026 Sunshine Coast Biosphere Awards on Friday, 27 June, they were carrying something neither of them had expected: the Healthy Planet Award, sponsored by Australia Zoo. They were also finalists in the Froggie award sponsored by the SC Environment Council.
The couple, who have spent 24 years transforming a weed-choked block of Blackall Range hinterland into a 12.9-hectare refuge for endangered species, were the only private landowners among the finalists in any category. They won anyway.
“Our total surprise was reinforced by the calibre of the other finalists,” Di said. “They were organisations that are much better known and funded compared to landowners. We were the only private landowners who took on a huge project of rehabilitating a degraded property as a couple. It was with awe and some embarrassment to be in such company, but we do deserve to be here.”
The Award and Its Purpose
The Sunshine Coast Biosphere Awards celebrate sustainability excellence, recognise outstanding impact, and inspire others to shape a thriving future for the region. The Sunshine Coast was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in June 2022, internationally recognising the region as part of a global network working to advance sustainability through innovation, strong communities, a resilient local economy, and care for the natural environment. The Healthy Planet category specifically recognises those actively protecting and restoring natural environments.
A 24-Year Journey
Ian and Di purchased their property in Flaxton, in 2002. What greeted them was a rugged landscape of near-vertical gullies and active landslips, dominated by Lantana and Elephant Grass, with illegal dumping sites scattered across the slopes. The site borders Kondalilla National Park and drains into the Mary River Catchment, making it an ecologically significant corridor whether the land itself reflected that value or not.
In the early years they commuted from Brisbane every weekend. Ian had always wanted to plant a forest. Di loved gardening. Together, they had a capacity for hard work that the property would test comprehensively.
“Any thought that the work we commenced in 2002 would result in us achieving an award, especially a major biosphere award, was foreign to us,” Ian reflected.
If he could go back and speak to those earlier selves, Ian’s message would be direct: “This is going to be a lot harder and take a lot longer than you could ever imagine. There are going to be some major difficulties along the way, such as deluges that will wash away your road, landslips, tractor accidents, and leeches on the eyeball. But the rewards will be many and give enormous joy, satisfaction, and the knowledge that what you are doing is part of giving back and caring for your place.”
What They Built
Over 24 years, Ian and Di have planted more than 38,000 trees and understorey plants, cleared major infestations of Lantana, Elephant Grass, Fishbone Fern, and Camphor Laurel, and stabilised previously slumping hillsides. For the most inaccessible terrain, they engineered a custom 400-metre poly-pipe and hose system to water 7,000 trees across gullies that conventional equipment could not reach, gifting the infrastructure to another landholder when the project was complete.
The property now supports an endangered population of Macadamia ternifolia (the Maroochy Nut), mature Pararistolochia praevenosa vines critical to the Richmond Birdwing butterfly, the Three-leaved Bosistoa, the Sunshine Coast Myrtle, and habitat for the Pink Underwing Moth. Ian and Di have also collaborated with the University of the Sunshine Coast and the Australian Macadamia Society on genetic studies and seed collection for propagation at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve.
To protect the work in perpetuity, they secured a Voluntary Conservation Agreement with the Sunshine Coast Council, placing a permanent covenant over 90 per cent of the block.
“The VCA covering our property is of paramount importance to us,” Ian said. “The rehabilitated forest will be protected in perpetuity. Having the Kondalilla National Park on our boundary accentuates the value of our VCA.”
Opening the Gate to Others
Ian and Di have consistently shared what they have learned, hosting field walks and workshops for Barung Landcare, Roving Restorers, and Land for Wildlife members, and opening their property to local councillors to demonstrate what Landholder Environment Grants can achieve on private land. They are also active volunteers with Barung Landcare and the Roving Restorers program.
Ian hopes the award will encourage others to take the first step.
“We hope that publicity, property visits, and articles will influence and inspire other small landowners to begin their reveg journey,” he said. “We would strongly urge landholders who meet the criteria to obtain a VCA for their property. The return on investment to the council would far outweigh its expenditure.”
Celebrating the Region’s Sustainability Leaders
Ian and Di’s win was one of seven awards presented at the ceremony, with winners drawn from across the Sunshine Coast’s sustainability community. Kerry Neill of TribalLink took home a double honour, winning both the Knowledge Innovator Award, sponsored by UniSC, and the Froggie Award, supported by the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, for his immersive, on-Country cultural education programs integrating First Nations knowledge with environmental practice. Waste Free Systems won the Biosphere Business Leader award for their salon recycling programs, which divert more than 90 per cent of small business waste from landfill. Connect Rugby League and the Lavender Sky Foundation received the Community Connection award for their inclusive, all-abilities sporting programs. Fien Van den Steen was named Biosphere Ambassador for her global-to-local sustainability advocacy, and Taylor Ladd-Hudson took out the Rising Biosphere Star award for her youth-focused marine conservation and wildlife education.
For Di, the conversations at the ceremony were as meaningful as the award itself, particularly being approached by landholders in the audience who wanted to understand more about what the couple had achieved.
“I imagined that perhaps our story would have been unimaginable or foreign to them,” she said. “I thought that many in the audience may have had little understanding of what we had been involved in for the last 24 years.”
That quiet, 24-year effort, one tree, one cleared slope, one open property walk at a time, is precisely the kind of work the Healthy Planet Award was designed to acknowledge or celebrate.
For more information about the Sunshine Coast Biosphere Awards, visit sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/biosphere-awards. Landholders interested in the Land for Wildlife program or Voluntary Conservation Agreements can contact the Sunshine Coast Council’s environment team.
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